Tuesday, November 25, 2014

I choose to be above the influence of
drugs, alcohol and tobacco because…

Participating in those activities are
very dangerous and could most likely have life changing effects on your
body. Ever thought about that?

Once you get caught you can have people
talking about you, is that what you want?
You are too smart to let one night of fun affect your school grades or
GPA. Remember that every time before you
go out to party!

We all like sports! Once you’re caught doing something wrong you
can’t take it back. Would you really
want to risk not being able to show your athletic skills?

Woot!
Woot! You just got a job! You’re so glad that you now have money to
spend. You were driving while
intoxicated though. What do you think
that means? You will now lose your job. No more money for you!

Once you can drive don’t EVER get in a
car while intoxicated. You could be
risking your life!!! Always remember you can be endangering other people around
you. Don’t ever get in with anybody
either if they could have used hurtful products to their body.

Would you really want to ruin your
relationships with friends and family just because you decided to do something
wrong? I know that I wouldn’t. Once you have done something wrong your
friends don’t want to call you their friends.
Always remember that it can reflect on your personality.

Never give minors alcohol or any hurtful
drugs to use. Not only will you get in
trouble for giving it to them, but they will get in trouble for using dangerous
products. You will suffer the
consequences. Don’t think that you can
get out of it.

Listen up guys!!! This is nothing to
blow off or think that it’s not important!
You can be risking your life.
Never use hurtful products such as drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Take it seriously!!!

INTERESTING FACTS!

Fact # 1 = 22 million Americans use
illegal drugs

Fact # 2 = 9% or US population uses
illegal drugs

Men tend to drink the most.

Younger men 18-49 are the heaviest
drinkers of any age group or gender.

I choose to be above the influence of
drugs, alcohol and tobacco because I live a happy life, and I am not about to
ruin it. I won’t buy or use tobacco
because it can cause cancer, it can ruin your skin and teeth and it makes a 32
year old look 50. I won’t drink alcohol
because it makes you unaware of what’s around you, it makes your decisions
unwise and can put you in prison.

I will never do drugs because some of
them will put you in prison, they can kill you if you abuse them and they can
cause liver disease.

When you play sports in high school or
college you can get kicked off the teams for doing drugs, alcohol or tobacco
because then the coaches know that you don’t have the strength or willpower to
refuse. Doing drugs I illegal in sports
and some in society, alcohol is illegal if you’re under 21, and tobacco is
illegal if you’re under 18.

My mom smokes, and used to do
drugs. The cigarettes make her look
10-15 years older and she’s only 34.
When she did drugs she made a lot of bad decisions. Because of that I really don’t want to smoke,
whether it’s pot or cigarettes.

Each year about 16,000 people die of
DUI. I think that most of them are the
innocent people who don’t drink because it seems like they’re usually the ones
who die. That isn’t fair in any way,
shape or form. In my opinion if anyone
had to die it should be the drunken ones.
I don’t mean to be blunt but you wanted honesty.

Each year about 200,000 people die of
drug overdose. That’s terrible but they
brought it upon themselves. It’s their
own fault they could have gone to rehab or said no in the first place. If anything went through their heads it
probably was “Let’s get high cause its fun.”
Because of that they’re dead.

Each year about 443,000 people die of
using and abusing tobacco. That’s more
than drugs or DUI. I think that’s
because tobacco is most commonly used more than alcohol or drugs. Also probably because there aren’t as many
illegal tobacco products as illegal drugs.

Each year about 88,000 people die of alcohol
abuse. I don’t get it why people choose
drinking over friends and family. I
certainly wouldn’t choose alcohol.
They’re basically picking out the sheets for their death beds. Since they are drunk, the sheets are probably
ugly.

I’m in basketball and most likely will
be through high school. I won’t do
drugs, alcohol or tobacco because I love basketball. I also get A’s and B’s for grades and I want
to get into a good college so I am above the influence.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

All I hear
are sirens, helicopters, screaming and crying.
Why!? Why do I hear and see these
horrible things? It’s all because of a
drunk driver.

Why do
people do drugs, drink alcohol and use tobacco?
Probably because the people who do drugs think that they are only going
to do it once, but they end up getting addicted to the drug which means that
after a while their body gets used to it and it’s very hard to get out of the
habit.

It seems as
though they don’t know the dangers of drugs.
There are lots and lots of dangerous things about them all. Some drugs have good in them like if you have
diabetes or cancer you take legal drugs to help the disease, but some people
use these legal drugs inappropriately, like drinking too much of it and that
leads to bad decisions.

When you
drink more amounts of alcohol or any kind of drug your brain sends wrong
messages through your blood vessels which sends wrong signals to the body. You can end up seeing or hearing things that
aren’t real, feeling things that aren’t there or do things that you wouldn’t
normally do.

Drugs can
make your heart beat faster, your body move slower, your throat feel dry and
your pupils get bigger. It can also
affect the way you see, hear, feel, smell, think, move, eat, and also how often
you go to the bathroom. Now who would
want to do that to their body? Because,
I know I don’t.

These are
reasons why I choose to be above the influence of drugs, alcohol and tobacco
because if my family found out that I had been doing drugs they wouldn’t be
very happy, and what if my friends found out?
They wouldn’t think of me the same way.
When I grow up I want to be an NBA girl’s basketball coach and what
would the players think of me? Drugs,
alcohol and tobacco can cause serious damage and even death. Just think one wrong move and all you hear
are sirens…

Try to
imagine a life where you can’t live without drugs and are so addicted you can’t
stop. I have always wanted to be healthy
and wanted to be active and to be fit my whole life. Sometimes I wonder to myself what it would be
like for those people that can’t breathe, can’t talk and have to constantly be
in and out of the hospital.

As a child I
made a promise to myself, to my family, and to the people that count on me, to
never even think about starting drugs, alcohol and tobacco at all. While growing up I have had the best friends
that a girl could ever ask for in my life and could never imagine drugs taking
control of them. If I could make one
promise in my life that would be to be DRUG FREE.

People might
ask, “I wonder what a glass of wine or one cigarette would taste like?” This is what I say to that, “Why”? People think “Oh, trying it once won’t hurt
anything,” but they’re wrong. Trying it
once can change your life forever.

If I could
change one thing, it would be to make all drugs, alcohol and tobacco
forbidden. If you think about the people
that are so addicted to drugs that they would do anything to get their hands on
just one cigarette or just one bottle of beer.
How would they be able to live life, have a good career, or be a good
role model to their kids? I would think
it would be very difficult if they let drugs take control of them. To me, all I can say is, “Why did you start
in the first place?” Most of them would
probably just say, “I didn’t think trying it one time could ruin my life
forever”.

I don’t base my life on what the future brings
or what it holds. What I know is that
those promises that I have made will last all my life. I know one thing that will not change, and
it’s my promise that no matter what, I pledge to be DRUG FREE forever. This is my story of why I don’t want to be
under the influence of drugs, alcohol or tobacco.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

The American Cancer Society marks the Great American
Smokeout on the third Thursday of November each year by
encouraging smokers to use the date to make a plan to quit, or to plan in
advance and quit smoking that day. By quitting — even for one day — smokers
will be taking an important step towards a healthier life – one that can lead
to reducing cancer risk. The health benefits of quitting start immediately from the
moment of smoking cessation. Quitting while you are younger will reduce your
health risks more, but quitting at any age can give back years of life that
would be lost by continuing to smoke.

Tobacco use
remains the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in
the US, yet about 42 million Americans still smoke cigarettes — a bit under 1
in every 5 adults. As of 2012, there were also 13.4 million cigar smokers in
the US, and 2.3 million who smoke tobacco in pipes — other dangerous and
addictive forms of tobacco.It also remains as one of the most expensive habits
not only to the smoker but to society as well.

Quitting is
hard, but you can increase your chances of success with help. The American
Cancer Society can tell you about the steps you can take toquit smokingand providequit-smoking programs,
resources and support that can increase your chances of quitting successfully.
To learn about the available tools, call them at 1-800-227-2345 or go to http://www.cancer.org/healthy/stayawayfromtobacco/greatamericansmokeout/index?gclid=CNeT39aE-MECFYSPMgodky0ApQ.

Youth Leadership Council members in Van Buren County will be holding a
variety of activities both in their school and in the community that bring
awareness to the dangers of tobacco. The activities that will be happening in
the school are in an effort to further reduce youth tobacco use in our
community.

For more information on the YLC organization or any of their activities
you may contact them at info@vbsafecoalition.com or 319-293-6412. You may also
find out more information on their website: www.ylc/vbsafecoalition.com or look
them up on Facebook!

Monday, November 10, 2014

Van Buren County Youth Leadership Council (YLC)
members held a variety of activities for Red Ribbon Week this year. They wanted
to send a message in both their school and community about the dangers of
Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco. They also wanted to reach a younger generation and
encourage them to be above the influence and never start using any of these
dangerous substances. Both the Van Buren
Middle School and High School members participated in the following activities:

High school members placed Red Ribbons around the
community to remind residents of the importance of Red Ribbon Week and to
hopefully encourage them to speak to their children about the dangers of these
substances. Middle School members also placed the ribbons on the school grounds
so that students, staff and visitors were reminded of their message.

High school members participated in Peer Teaching with
6th grade students. This year the YLC members wanted to include an essay
contest as a part of their teaching so they provided an essay template a few
weeks before they came to the classroom. 6th graders were asked to
write an essay on why they were above the influence of drugs, alcohol and
tobacco. The essays were read and judged by the high school YLC members. The
winners of the contest were: 1st Place- Hannah Charbonneau, 2nd
place- Isabel Manning, 3rd Place- Summer Brown and Honorable
Mention- Kolbie Bass. These girls won a private lunch with the high school YLC
members during Red Ribbon Week. Be watching for the winning essays to be
published in upcoming SAFE Coalition publications.

Both middle and high school students participated
in dress up days every day during Red Ribbon Week and winners of the dress up
days were awarded prizes each day along with the morning announcements that
shared a different fact each day related to Red Ribbon Week.

On Wednesday the high school members set up a
mystery box during their lunch hour. The box had items inside it that
represented things you might experience as a smoker; rotten teeth, diseased
lung and a cancerous tongue. Participants were only allowed to feel inside the
box to try to guess the items. There were 13 students who guessed the correct
items and these students were put into a drawing to win a Red Ribbon Week
prize! The mystery box was a big hit and many students wanted to try to figure
out what was inside!

Also on Wednesday the middle school YLC members set
up a Pledge Wall and Face Painting for their peers. Students were asked to sign
the pledge wall to be drug, alcohol and tobacco free. There were a large number
of middle school and high school students who signed the pledge.

Both middle and high school students also wrote
articles for the newspaper and were a part of KMEM’s
Coffee Break. These initiatives were in an effort to get information out into
the public about Red Ribbon Week and things community members could do to get
involved.